Daddy's Friends
by 8belles
Summary: Daddy never brought home anyone except Aunt Nat. Now the house is full of really, really big people who look like they need some love. Character study from the viewpoint of the daughter of one very sharp-eyed Avenger. One shot. Avengers: Age of Ultron


Daddy's Friends

**A/N… major spoilers for Avengers : Age of Ultron. A group of character studies**

Auntie Tasha was here! Running to the kitchen, the little brown haired girl in braided pigtails threw herself into Natasha's arms, still stained with the sweat and dust of battle. The spy lifted the child up easily and buried her face in the little girls' hair that smelled of grass, flowers and the fresh country, not blood, dust and machine oil.

"Are you staying?" the little voice asked, her dark eyes probing the cunning green ones of Romanov.

Natasha felt her heart swell with emotion, the tight iron bands she kept upon it creaking with effort to contain the feelings this little girl brought out in her. Her throat dry on the verge of tears after their horrible day, she found her voice small and humbled, "No, dear. We can't. Just a short visit."

The girl's face fell but she was use to it. Even at the tender age of five, she was used to her daddy, Hawkeye, coming and going, returning with the same expression on his face as her auntie Natasha. It didn't scare her anymore, but she wondered why these grownups would keep going back to things that made them so unhappy.

Natasha put the child down and gave her arm an affectionate squeeze. The memory that Scarlet Witch had reawakened crawled in her belly pulling on surgery scars like a dissonant harp. Natasha ghosted her hand over her pelvis, knowing if she touched the skin, it would burn like molten metal. A heavy sadness filled her soul. Romanov tried to think of better things to get over the mental attack, but being here with people she loved, seemed to make it hurt more. She was reminded of what she could lose.

The little Hawkeye turned to skip away when she encountered Thor.

Gazing upward, she looked into the blue eyes towering above her. Her mouth parted with a silent, "Oh." Thor gazed down upon the child, mouth twitching with confusion. Did one smile at children or scowl? He didn't deal much with younglings and so his discomfort showed upon his face. The little girl kept looking up at him in wonder. Thor began to think of Jane and where she was. Barton's home, although different from an Asgardian one, felt like a _home._ It was filled with light, love and a family. It panged his heart at the same time it emboldened him to remember why they fight. Why the Avengers existed. With a quick semi grimace, he left the presence of the tiny girl who made him feel so odd.

The child thought that mommy was going to have to do a lot of cooking to feed such a huge man.

Bouncing around the kitchen like a rubber ball, the child clambered up upon a chair to gaze out the windows at the two men chopping wood. Mommy said the blonde one was Mr. Rogers and the dark haired man was Mr. Stark. They were friends she claimed. To the girls' innocent eyes, they appeared to be **not** friends, even though she couldn't hear what they were saying.

She watched them chop a log, talk, then the chopping became more violent followed by more talking.

The girl saw their body posture shift from casual to tense, their shoulders squared, jaws tight, hands clenched. Was mommy sure they were friends? Why didn't she understand grownups? They made life too hard.

Cap split the log, small splinters flying to the ground. Tony was grinding his twisted logic axe on Steve's patience. Rogers held his ground because even if he was the 'old man' on the team, it meant he had perspective and wisdom. Tony just couldn't see it yet. No violence in the guise of peace was ever prevented by preemptive action, ever.

Tony rambled on talking about deterrence, like Tom Cruise in "Minority Report". Steve gave him a blank stare. Fine, you don't get that reference. Verging on language Cap would find rude, he continued to beat the point that Ultron was intended to be a great thing! Cap didn't see it that way raising Tony's blood pressure.

Rogers ripped a log in half in frustration. Tony stared, trying not to be intimidated. No wonder his dad talked about him all the time.

"Where's your dark side?" Tony pushed, "I don't trust anyone without a dark side."

"Maybe you just haven't seen it yet." Steve growled. Tony looked at him as sparks flew from Rogers' eyes.

Mrs. Barton interrupted them to ask Tony to look at their tractor. Tony gave a 'we are not done here' look at Rogers and stepped away. "Don't touch my pile." He gestured absently to the tiny amount of wood split compared to Rogers'.

Steve stood, watching the billionaire genius walk away to the barn, not realizing his body was in total battle mode, muscles taut, hands balled into fists and his breaths coming in rapid succession. _Bucky falling off the train… his dark side almost caught up with him_. Catching a movement in the house that distracted him, he glanced at the window and saw Clint's little girl. Her face was framed in the window pane, large dark eyes gazing at him.

Peggy's face swam before him from Wanda's vision. "Steve, are you ready for our dance?" she said sweetly with her crimson lips. Suddenly his anger evaporated and hollowness filled him. Looking down at his callused hands, he saw what might have been. Swallowing the memories like a bitter medicine, he looked back at the house. The little girl had moved away from the window and the glass reflected the clear country sky above.

Mommy said to leave Dr. Banner alone because he was tired. She went upstairs as Auntie Nat was coming down, looking upset. Why was everyone here so sad? she wondered, lightly running up the stairs.

Bruce was sitting, his black hair wet against his neck, on the floor, hands resting on his knees, eyes closed. The child wondered if he was asleep. Grownups do such silly things, like sleep sitting up!

She turned to leave when she heard his warm voice, "Don't go."

The child turned, "Mommy said to leave you alone."

Banner opened his eyes and smiled the first genuine expression the girl had seen from any of their guests. He wasn't hiding anything, "Please. Come and sit."

"Ok." She entered her bedroom littered with toys and mementos of childhood. Plopping herself down like a puppy at his knee, she looked at him. "Why does mommy say to leave you alone? Are you sick? It seems everyone here is sick."

Bruce admired the perceptiveness of the girl, but that was no surprise being that she was Clint's daughter; sharp of eye, quick of wit. "No, dear. I am fine. Everyone here is ok. We're not sick."

"Then why is everyone so mad and sad?" she pressed.

Bruce breathed in deeply, "Before I worked with your dad, and everyone else here, I was a doctor."

"You don't give shots do you? I hate shots!" the girl interrupted, her eyes wide.

Banner chuckled, "No, dear. I don't. But I do help people. And that is what I was doing in a country called India. I worked in a city called Calcutta."

"Oh." The child affirmed, placing her chin in her hands to prop up her head.

"And I helped people who were sick and didn't have a doctor. It was very hard work but I like it. It made me feel like I was really making a difference in the world and these people were going to be better because I helped them." Bruce paused collecting himself. The child's innocence was like salt in his emotional wounds. Natasha's words echoed in his ears, her admission to him she was attracted to his peacenik ways, her desire to start a romance with him and maybe something more… No. He can't. He can't have it, not with the 'Other Guy'. His life was a shambles. He was a monster.

"Mr. Bruce?" the girl's voice interrupted. She didn't seem to notice his internal war.

Banner blinked, his hands clenching his knees, knuckles white. Breathing deeply, he relaxed his hands, " Back to what I was saying. So all of us, your daddy's friends, work together because we can do some really amazing things. We are helping people with our abilities to make the world a safer place."

"Like the police or firemen?" she volunteered, perking up.

"Yes. Like them. But sometimes the work is sad. Bad things happen and things don't always go our way. But when they do work, it makes us feel really good. Right now, we're in a low spot."

"Like when daddy's favorite team loses? A lot? That always makes him upset." The girl furrowed her brow, trying to understand.

Banner laughed lightly, "Yes. Like when your daddy's team loses."

"Lunch everybody!" Mrs. Banner's voice came from the foyer.

"Yay! I was getting hungry." she jumped up from the floor like only young kids can.

Banner was a bit slower rising, "I am too. Let's go eat."

The girl ran out before him and he smiled for a moment, gave into the feeling of joy the small girl inspired in him. _The dawn always chases away the dark_, he waxed poetic despite knowing what he had to do in the end. They all knew what they had to do.


End file.
